UPDATE: USI coach Watson: 'We lost our personality'

Eagles basketball team mourning loss of Lewis

USI officials meet with media following death of basketball player Jeron Lewis.

USI's Brandon Carr, left, is offered a little support from teammate Jeron Lewis during a game in the 2009 Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament. Lewis died Thursday night after collapsing in a game. USI head coach Rodney Watson described Lewis as the team's "personality."

Jeron Lewis

The news conference at the University of Southern Indiana regarding Jeron Lewis on Friday afternoon.

There was a voice missing when the University of Southern Indiana men's basketball team met this morning.

Shortly after gathering for the first time since returning from Owensboro, Ky., last night, where the Eagles' Jeron Lewis died from apparent heart problems, coach Rodney Watson remembered the senior captain fondly.

"Sometimes he talked too much in practice," Watson said in a midday interview. "And yet you were so happy he did. He kept us loose.

Lewis died as a result of heart problems, Daviess County (Ky.) Coroner Bob Howe reported after a Friday morning autopsy on the 21-year-old Fort Wayne, Ind., native.

"It's the kind of thing he probably went his whole life and never knew about," Howe said, adding that it only would've been detected if "he had a stress test."

Lewis was in his second year with USI, having transferred to the school from a junior college. After losing more than 30 pounds in the offseason, the 6-foot-8 Lewis' role with the team grew. He averaged 12 points and 8 rebounds in 14 games this season.

Thursday night, he collapsed with just over four minutes left in USI's game against Kentucky Wesleyan College. He was taken to Owensboro Medical Health System, and was pronounced dead at 9:52 p.m.

Immediately afterward, students at both schools reacted by sharing memories of Lewis on Facebook and other social networking Web sites. Students at the school's most heated rival, Kentucky Wesleyan, encouraged fans to come to their Saturday home game dressed in USI's traditional red to show support.

"You'll hear me say at the press conference, 'We lost our personality.' He was our personality," Watson said. "Here was a guy that was just a good dude," Watson added. "I'm gonna miss that man."

USI President Linda Bennett said the school will work with Old National Bank to establish a trust fund for Lewis' 1-month-old son Jamel. She also implored the community to keep other members of the USI basketball team and its coaching staff in their thoughts.

"Teammate is another name for family member, and Jeron's teammates are in mourning right now," Bennett said.